Mom suspects son’s bipolarity a factor in gas station robbery

Tuesday

Nov 25, 2008 at 12:01 AMNov 25, 2008 at 8:23 PM

No one knows what was going through 20-year-old Derek Allen Rash’s mind when he walked into a Meijer gas station last week armed with a baseball bat, threatened customers and employees and smashed a cash register.

That’s what his mother, Sheri Wright, has been trying to figure out since learning about the robbery from a newspaper article.

“He could’ve endangered their lives,” Wright said Monday, Nov. 24. “I hope some of the people that were there that were shown this anger he has will find it in their hearts to forgive him for what he’s done.”

MEGAN SCHMIDT

No one knows what was going through 20-year-old Derek Allen Rash’s mind when he walked into a Meijer gas station last week armed with a baseball bat, threatened customers and employees and smashed a cash register.

That’s what his mother, Sheri Wright, has been trying to figure out since learning about the robbery from a newspaper article.

“He could’ve endangered their lives,” Wright said Monday, Nov. 24. “I hope some of the people that were there that were shown this anger he has will find it in their hearts to forgive him for what he’s done.”

Police said Rash entered the Holland Township Meijer gas station, 3320 West Shore Drive, around 11 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20 and ordered everyone in the store to lie on the ground. He used a baseball bat to smash the register then fled on foot with the cash.

Police apprehended him while he was approaching the main store to carry out another robbery.

Rash was arraigned Friday, Nov. 21, on charges of armed robbery, malicious destruction of property and a probation violation.

Wright said she has no idea what motivated her son to commit the crime. She has not talked to him since it happened.

Rash has had trouble finding permanent employment because he has a criminal past, she said.
“He’s got a couple domestic violence charges for hitting me,” she said.

Ottawa County court records show Rash was charged with domestic violence in 2006 and 2007. He pleaded guilty both times.

As a minor, Rash also pleaded guilty to assault and malicious destruction of property charges in 2000 and 2001.

Wright thinks Rash’s friends may have encouraged him to rob the gas station.

“I’ve got a feeling that someone put him up to it,” she said. “This is not something he would have done on his own.”

Rash was diagnosed with ADHD in kindergarten. The family also discovered that he was bipolar about two years ago, Wright said.

“He doesn’t have a 20-year-old mind,” she said. “He has the mind of a 10-year-old.”

She doesn’t know if Rash has been taking his medication because he has been living with his grandparents, she said.

With no job and his health conditions working against him, Wright said she thinks her son was vulnerable — but doesn’t excuse his behavior.

“He needs to learn how to control his anger,” she said. “He needs to learn to call people and ask for help.”